MIT IDSS
A new way to test how well AI systems classify text
Is this movie review a rave or a pan? Is this news story about business or technology? Is this online chatbot conversation veering off into giving financial advice? Is this online medical information site giving out misinformation? These kinds of automated conversations, whether they involve seeking a movie or restaurant review or getting information about…
Envisioning a future where health care tech leaves some behind
Will the perfect storm of potentially life-changing, artificial intelligence-driven health care and the desire to increase profits through subscription models alienate vulnerable patients? For the third year in a row, MIT’s Envisioning the Future of Computing Prize asked students to describe, in 3,000 words or fewer, how advancements in computing could shape human society for the better…
Melding data, systems, and society
Research that crosses the traditional boundaries of academic disciplines, and boundaries between academia, industry, and government, is increasingly widespread, and has sometimes led to the spawning of significant new disciplines. But Munther Dahleh, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, says that such multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary work often suffers from a number…
Building networks of data science talent
The rise of artificial intelligence resurfaces a question older than the abacus: If we have a tool to do it for us, why learn to do it ourselves? The answer, argues MIT electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) Professor Devavrat Shah, hasn’t changed: Foundational skills in mathematics remain essential to using tools well, from knowing…
New tool evaluates progress in reinforcement learning
If there’s one thing that characterizes driving in any major city, it’s the constant stop-and-go as traffic lights change and as cars and trucks merge and separate and turn and park. This constant stopping and starting is extremely inefficient, driving up the amount of pollution, including greenhouse gases, that gets emitted per mile of driving. …
Designing a new way to optimize complex coordinated systems
Coordinating complicated interactive systems, whether it’s the different modes of transportation in a city or the various components that must work together to make an effective and efficient robot, is an increasingly important subject for software designers to tackle. Now, researchers at MIT have developed an entirely new way of approaching these complex problems, using simple…